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VIDEO: Porter hits the west coast with Mr. Porter's House Party!
To celebrate its new service between Toronto Pearson (YYZ) and Vancouver (YVR), Porter Airlines hosted a "house party" Wednesday night (July 12) to officially introduce its operations to the west coast.
A crowd of 400 guests gathered at Rocky Mountaineer Station, a unique venue located in the False Creek Flats area of Vancouver, for an evening that showcased Porter's style, care, and charm.
In addition to industry professionals, local Vancouverites and music enthusiasts enjoyed two hours of live entertainment by global house DJ and producer, Marsh.
Not your typical event
The Mr. Porter House Party “isn’t your typical airline event.”
Kevin Jackson, Porter's executive vice president and chief commercial officer, says the airline brought Mr. Porter's loft to Vancouver for good reason.
“We're using the venue as a set to immerse our travel agents and partners in the Porter experience,” explained Jackson. "Everything we offer onboard our aircraft is represented here (at Mr. Porter's House Party). This includes fresh food from our kitchen, drinks from our bar, and even our entertainment and free, fast, streaming WiFi available onboard for everyone.”
Guests were invited to experience different sections of the venue, including Mr. Porter's Living Room.
This room was fitted with only two-seat couches, conveying the message that Porter Airlines has no middle seats on any flight.
A swinging chair with a sign overtop that read elevated economy welcomed guests to Mr. Porter's Terrace.
In its messaging, Porter emphasizes the importance of offering passengers numerous perks to deliver a superior economy air travel experience.
"As you travel with Porter across Canada, you will see a level of economy experience that does not exist in the marketplace today," Jackson said.
Also in the terrace section, Porter highlighted the airline's environmentally-friendly and fuel-efficient Embraer E195-E2 aircraft, which it says is one of the quietest single-aisle aircraft in flight today.
Bars and food stations throughout the venue featured Porter's partnerships with high-quality Canadian brands selected for their locality, quality ingredients, brand alignment, and sustainability.
The party guests enjoyed cocktails, wine, beer, and premium snacks among other items.
West competition heats up
While there are new carriers coming into the market, Jackson was quick to point out that Porter isn't a new kid on the block. In October 2023, Porter will celebrate its 17th anniversary.
With the growing airline competition in western Canada, Jackson shared with PAX how Porter plans to increase its market share.
“We start the expansion of our network with a well-established customer base that comes from eastern Canada, whether that's leisure travellers, or that's corporate accounts, a lot of business travellers who know us very well in Eastern Canada,” Jackson explained.
“They are the root of who’s going to start to fly with us as we go across the country."
As Porter launches new markets, nearly 50 per cent of the traffic originates from these new markets, not just eastern Canada, Jackson shared.
“For us what's important as we enter these [new] markets is that people get on board the aircraft, experience the product, and start talking about it,” said Jackson.
“We're very confident that our eastern Canada base will be a nice foundation for us, as western Canada gets to understand the product and the differentiation in the market. This is going to grow the market share and allow us to then build in flight frequency into all these key markets, which has always been core to the value proposition of Porter since day one," concluded Jackson.
Now boarding: New Embraer E195-E2 routes
The airline is bringing the Porter experience to many more North American destinations. Following is a list of routes that are currently in service and those that are upcoming.
In Service:
Destination
|
Daily service
|
Ottawa (YOW)
|
4 roundtrip flights
|
Montreal (YUL)
|
4 roundtrip flights
|
Vancouver (YVR)
|
5 roundtrip flights
|
Edmonton (YEG)
|
2 roundtrip flights
|
Calgary (YYC)
|
3 roundtrip flights
|
Halifax (YHZ)
|
3 roundtrip flights
|
*All routes operating from Toronto Pearson (YYZ)
Upcoming Routes:
Route
|
Flights starting
|
Daily service
|
Ottawa (YOW) - Vancouver (YVR)
|
July 26, 2023
|
1 roundtrip flight
|
Toronto–Pearson (YYZ) – St. John’s (YYT)
|
September 6, 2023
|
1 roundtrip flight
|
Toronto-Pearson (YYZ) – Winnipeg (YWG)
|
September 7, 2023
|
2 roundtrip flights
|
Toronto-Pearson (YYZ) – Victoria (YYJ)
|
September 20, 2023
|
1 roundtrip flight
|
For more information on the Toronto-Pearson (YYZ) / Vancouver (YVR) route summer 2023 schedule, visit here.
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